


Locked Up

by destieldrabblesdaily



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Little Brother Sam, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 14:09:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7442203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destieldrabblesdaily/pseuds/destieldrabblesdaily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: 'College AU where Sam gets fed up with Cas and Dean not doing anything about their like for each other and so he locks them in a closet'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Locked Up

“If we get out of here, I swear I will strangle your little brother.” Castiel threatened with a sideways glare in his roommate’s direction.

He doubted if Dean could even see his angry expression, because it was fairly dark in the closet where they were stuck together, but he threw in the scowl for good measure regardless.

“Whoa man, really loving your use of the word ‘ _if_ ’ here. How about we try for ‘ _when’_ , because I’m not planning on dying in here.” Dean complained.

They were both forlornly sitting on the floor of the messy closet, the one in the hallway where they stored their jackets and shoes. After being in there for almost an hour, both boys had lost all hope of getting out anytime soon. Their sides were touching; it was a fairly large built in closet, but still, there was no room here for any kind of personal space. Not that Castiel minded being close to Dean…

“Alright, _when_.” Castiel responded with a dramatic wave of his hand.

“Yes, when.” Dean repeated resolutely. “Besides, if we’re lucky, Charlie might barge in like she does all the time, and we could be out of here sooner than you think.”

“ _If_ and _might_ , your words inspire about as much confidence as my ‘when’.” Castiel snapped.

He knew that this was technically not Dean’s fault, but he did partly blame Dean for not keeping his kid-brother in check.

There was a silence as they both listened for any signs of Sam returning. There were none.

Castiel was rather confused, because Sam usually was a very decent kid, and this kind of behavior didn’t suit him at all. Dean and Castiel had been friends since high school, and Castiel knew Sam pretty well; the kid was not known for being a troublemaker. And so, when Dean had asked Castiel if it was okay for twelve year old Sammy to stay with them for a few days, because Sam was missing his older brother ever since he’d moved out to go to college, Castiel had agreed to it right away…

Right about now, he was beginning to deeply regret that decision.

“I cannot believe that a twelve year old was able to trick us into going in here to begin with.” Castiel muttered dejectedly.

“Well, Sammy’s always been the clever one.” Dean managed to sound annoyed and impressed at the same time. “And then there’s those innocent puppy eyes… And honestly, when he said that he wanted to play a game, and that it would all make sense in a minute, I believed him.”

“Oh yes, me too. Until we were actually in here and he turned the lock!” Castiel countered with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Dean chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah okay, I didn’t see that one coming…”

Another short silence. The distant sounds of a video game being played in the living room was all they could hear. Castiel considered yelling Sam’s name again, but they’d tried that before, and the little bastard had simply ignored them.

“Alright… So what do you think it is he wants? Clearly he’s expecting us to do something… What was it again that he said before he left us here to rot?” Castiel asked Dean, a bit calmer now, ready to brainstorm.

“He said…” Dean paused to think. “He said _‘I can no longer watch this, when you two figure your stuff out, I’ll let you out of there’_.”

Castiel studied Dean’s face as best as he could in the dimly lit closet. Dean’s brow was furrowed as he seemed to be pondering on his younger brother’s words.

“Has he ever done something like this before?” Castiel inquired, cocking his head at Dean.

Dean was deep in thought again for a moment, but then he suddenly glanced back at Castiel and sat a little straighter.

“I recall him doing this exact same thing with mom and dad, a couple of years ago. I wasn’t home when it happened, but mom told me that he’d locked them up in the closet under the stairs!”

“Really? Do you also know _why_?” Castiel asked, getting hopeful that they were getting closer to a solution.

“Yeah… Mom and dad had been fighting, Sammy wanted to force them to make up.” Dean said slowly, considering his own words.

“I see… But we weren’t fighting.” Castiel pointed out. “I don’t think we’ve done so much as even argue in the two days that Sam has been staying with us.

“Not that I remember…” Dean mused.

Castiel groaned deeply, draping his arms around his knees and resting his head on them in defeat. This was of no help.

“Hey, I’m sorry about my pain-in-the-ass little brother, okay?” Dean offered, poking Castiel in the ribs, which caused him to jump up.

“I know it’s not your fault…” Castiel allowed with a sigh. “But if we get out of here… I’m sorry, I mean _when_ , you’d better make it up to me, Dean.” He added, half joking, half serious.

Dean laughed softly. “I will, I promise. We can do something fun to punish Sammy, like forcing him to run around the building naked while covered in peanut butter.”

Castiel had to laugh at that mental image, and Dean subtly placed an arm around his shoulders, pulling Castiel into his side. They did that a lot; touching. And hugging. It had become such a natural thing for the two of them to do, and Castiel never questioned it, but chose to enjoy it instead.

They sat like that for a while, not saying much, just appreciating the contact. Dean’s fingers were absentmindedly stroking up and down the side of Castiel’s arm. Castiel couldn’t help but occasionally let out a contented humming noise.

Dean’s hand abruptly stilled on Castiel’s arm when they heard the sound of footsteps.

“Did you two figure it out yet?” Sam’s sing song voice echoed from the other side of the door.  

“Dammit, Sammy!” Dean growled out, not answering the question. “Let us out of here, right now!”

“Not until you and Cas figure _your stuff_ out.” Sam quipped in a final tone.

Castiel noticed how Dean got up on his knees to forcefully bang a fist against the door.

“We don’t have stuff to figure out!” Dean barked. “Cas and I aren’t fighting, we’re on really good terms, thank you very much.”

A suggestive snort from Sam. “Oh yes, I _know_ you are. That’s the whole point.”

Footsteps again, but this time they were walking away from the closet.

“Sammy? Sammy get back here!” Dean yelled after him to no avail.

Soon enough, the only sound left was the muffled bleeping noise that came from Sam’s video game.

“I’m gonna kick his ass!” Dean groaned, banging against the unyielding door again.

Once upon a time, Castiel had been pleased with the fact that he and Dean had saved up enough money to rent a decent apartment for their college years. Pleased with the thick walls and the solid doors. Right now, Castiel wished they were a little _less_ solid.

Dean fell down onto the floor beside Castiel again, giving up. Castiel soothingly patted Dean’s knee. Their eyes met, and Dean smiled, bringing his hand up to ruffle Castiel’s hair, gently carding his fingers through the mess a few times. It was such a common gesture of affection… Although, maybe a bit too much affection for two platonic friends.

Castiel froze on the spot, unexpectedly stalked by a feeling of deja-vu. Dean had done that before, this morning. Castiel had been up early, and he’d made pancakes for Sammy, as well as coffee for Dean. When Dean had entered the kitchen, he’d gratefully accepted the coffee that Castiel had offered him, and then he had ruffled Castiel’s hair before planting a quick kiss to the top of his head…

When Dean had disappeared again to take a shower, Sam had taken that opportunity to ask an unusual question that had Castiel coughing up his tea. ‘ _Did you and Dean finally get together for real then?_ ’ the younger Winchester had asked him. When Castiel had told him _‘of course not’_ , Sam had excessively rolled his eyes at Castiel while mumbling something that had suspiciously sounded like _‘blind idiots’_.

“Dean…” Castiel whispered hesitantly, withdrawing his hand from where it had been resting on Dean’s knee. “Sam knows we’re not fighting… His goal is not to get us to make up.”

“What?” Dean asked, frowning at Castiel’s somewhat cryptic remark.

“He wants us to… I mean he thinks…” Castiel quickly searched his brain for a subtle way to break it to Dean.

“He wants what, Cas?” Dean prompted.

“I- I don’t know how to sugarcoat it, Dean, so I’m just going to say it.” Castiel was careful to avoid Dean’s eyes when spitting it out. “He thinks we like each other. As in really like each other. As in _boyfriends_. He thinks we should be together, and even more so, I think he believes that we _want_ to be together. I’m afraid he saw how we acted around each other this morning and jumped to his own conclusions, and when you were in the shower he asked if we were dating…”

Awkward silences between Dean and Castiel were a rare phenomenon, and so this had to be a first. Castiel still didn’t have the courage to look at Dean, and he stubbornly kept his eyes on the ugly yellow raincoat hanging on the opposite side of the closet. The problem with being locked in a closet together, was not being able to walk away after a conversation such as this one.

Castiel’s breath caught in his throat when after a while, he felt how a finger was gently placed under his chin, coaxing him into lifting his head. When he reluctantly complied, he was met by Dean’s stunning green eyes, oh so close. A soft smile was tugging at the corners of Dean’s mouth.

“Unbelievable…” Dean whispered, shaking his head as he dropped his hand from Castiel’s face. “I told you so… Sammy _is_ the clever one… Can’t hide anything from the kid, I never could.”

This time Castiel was the one who was mystified, and he stared at Dean, patiently waiting for his friend to elaborate.

“Look, the word is out now, okay? I _do_ like you, Cas. I like you a lot… I just didn’t want things to get weird between us… We’ve been friends for so long, and I don’t know what life without you would even be like, man…”

Castiel’s jaw dropped at Dean’s confession. Gorgeous, sweet, amazing Dean Winchester _liked_ him. That was insane. It was something Castiel had never even dared to think about, something he had never allowed himself to think about, because he knew he would be a lost cause once he permitted his mind to go there.

“You… you like me?” Castiel checked timidly.

“Yeah, Cas, I think I literally told you that just now.” Dean said, rubbing the back of his neck, green eyes watchful. “But look man, I get it, if that’s not how you feel, I can be a man about it. It doesn’t have to come between us just because Sammy couldn’t keep his big mouth shut.”

Dean’s face looked tense as he waited for an answer from Castiel; any answer.

Feeling brave, Castiel placed his hands on either side of Dean’s face, going in for a slow, deep kiss. Dean’s hum of approval against Castiel’s lips was enough of a reassurance, and Castiel climbed into Dean’s lap, never breaking the kiss. Dean’s arms warmly welcomed Castiel, pulling him closer.

Castiel didn’t know how long they kissed. It could’ve been minutes, hours or decades. Sam’s voice was the thing that brought them back to the here and now.

“Have you guys worked your stuff out yet?” Sam called, tone full of expectation.

Dean snickered against Castiel’s lips, but otherwise didn’t respond to his little brother. Castiel himself let out a quiet chuckle that was muted against Dean’s lips.

“Guys?” Sam asked again. “Hey guys!”

Dean shook his head at Castiel, without words telling him to keep quiet, and then he initiated another passionate kiss. Castiel was all for it, and he eagerly kissed Dean back.

When Sam opened the door, he huffed out a delighted “finally!” followed by a mildly disgusted “but ew, this is so _gross_ ”.

“You know what they say, Sammy. _Be careful what you wish for_.” Dean lectured, winking at his little brother over his shoulder while Castiel hid his face against Dean’s chest.

As for Castiel; he was still undecided. He would figure out later if he wanted to get revenge on Dean’s little brother, or if maybe he just wanted to thank him. 

**Author's Note:**

> For more Destiel stories, go to destieldrabblesdaily.tumblr.com


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